Karl August Hanke was born in Lauban (Lubań) in Silesia, on 24 August 1903, the son of a locomotive engineer. His older brother was killed in World War I. Hanke was too young for service in the war himself. He did, however, serve in the Reichswehr as a Zeitfreiwilliger (temporary volunteer) in the 19th Infantry… Read more »
Reinhard Hardegen born, 18-03-1913 in Bremen, began his naval career in April 1933. After two and a half years he was transferred, together with other officers, to the Marineflieger (Naval Air Force) branch of the Kriegsmarine . Hardegen was trained as an aircraft observer and later as a pilot. Following a crash and an ensuing six… Read more »
Five days after Hitler killed himself in his bunker in Berlin and two days before Germany surrendered, American and German troops were fighting together side by side in what has been called World War II’s strangest battle. It was the last days of the war in Europe on May 5, 1945, when French prisoners, Austrian… Read more »
Arthur Liebehenschel was born 25-11-1901 in Posen. He studied economics and public administration. Too young to serve in World War I, in 1919 he was in the Freikorps “Grenzschutz Ost”; he served as a sergeant major in the German Reichswehr afterwards. In 1932, he joined the Nazi Party (member number 39 254), and in 1934 was commissioned in the SS, where he served in the Totenkopfverbände …. Read more »
Hitler’s mistress from 1932 to 1945 and his wife for one day. Like most German women, Eva Braun cared little about politics or the war. She was involved only through her association with Hitler to whom she was completely devoted. In fact, when a significant event in the war occurred, her general response was, “How… Read more »